Category Archives: history

I’ve always been interested in the history of my hometown. Even as a lifelong resident, I enjoy hearing the juicy factoids about the city’s past, and still feel the stories would make an historical tour not only possible, but interesting. … Continue reading →

In researching my work-in-progress– an historical tale about Prohibition in Gary, Indiana– I came across the Rum Runners Tour in Windsor, Ontario. The tour probed the area’s connection to the Prohibition Era in the United States. On the tour, we drove … Continue reading →

Gary, Indiana doesn’t quickly come to mind when one thinks of the Prohibition Era in the Midwest. Chicago, Al Capone and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre are more obvious choices. I’ve heard stories that Gary’s close proximity to Chicago gave those … Continue reading →

As a special education teacher, I said I would never write a story about teaching or schools. But in researching the history of my hometown of Gary, Indiana, I discovered rich–and sometimes infamous–stories about not only the city itself, but … Continue reading →

This is the prequel to my unpublished historical fiction manuscript, Striving After Wind, which previously appeared at Short Fiction Break. October 1860 Helen Brandt lay on her straw mattress listening to the autumn rainstorm roll across the northern Kentucky countryside. A growl … Continue reading →

Thoughts of Gary, Indiana often include ones of the steel mill, the Jackson 5 and hope that the city can bring back the glory days current and former citizens remember. But there is one bit of history that stands out among the usual images … Continue reading →

At about 17th Avenue and Grant Street in the Tolleston neighborhood of Gary, Indiana lies a forgotten cemetery. Numerous trees and flowering shrubs obscure the few remaining headstones inscribed in German, English and an occasional Cyrillic script. This is Waldheim Cemetery, sometimes called Tolleston Cemetery after … Continue reading →